My Early Maytag A806 Rework Progress

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Thanks for the tips, guys.

Whether I reuse this damper or not I'll give repairing it a try. I did purchase a new one though that's on its way here now, just in case it should be needed.

Photo 1 - Today there was a fair amount of panic surrounding this cracked brake rotor bearing. I had looked it up and found several on the internet, but when I tried to actually order it today each of the suppliers discovered they didn't actually have one available. There's one listed on Amazon for an outrageous price that I didn't care to pay, so I got out the local phone book and miracle of miracles, a local guy here in Pittsburgh has one, so crisis averted.

Photo 2 - The rest of the day was spent cleaning up the base plate. It was covered in sticky filth and thick old oil which had to be removed before any sanding can be done. It took hours to complete and I ended up having to purchase a mini steam cleaner to complete the job. So though it doesn't look like much was done, I'm worn out.

In other news, the gray cloth tape arrived today, along with a new correct ballast transformer. I always manage to damage them while removing them from the machine. Maybe one day I'll figure out how to do it. I apologize for the slightly blurred photos today. It seems I got something on the camera lens that went unnoticed until I uploaded them just now.

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sticky filth and thick old oil

Thats the original Maytag trans grease/lube.

Even using gasoline it takes a while to clean a disassembled trans.

BTW- I wouldn't sand blast off the paint in good shape on underside of the base plate, it has a zinc primer and should be fine to paint over.
 
Corrosion removed from the base and front panel.

I need to get the cabinet in here now so it can be prepped, then everything can be primed and painted. Some of the pitting on the base was so deep it'll have to be filled before I can continue with primer.

 

Photo 2 - Most of the paint on the underside was fine so I left it alone. Only the corrosion was removed. But I did notice that the base plate color is different than the color on the motor shield, and it's quite shiny, so a new batch of paint was mixed to match the base. I'll likely use it on all of the gray parts. Getting close to painting.

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Sorry for the delay here.

I'm at the point where I need to prime and paint, but I can't paint in the hangar due to the over-spray problem and unfortunately the weather here in Pittsburgh has been too wet to paint outside. As soon as I get a day without rain or drizzle I'll be able to at least get the priming done, perhaps even paint. Meanwhile I've continued to order some much needed new parts and work on restoring others. With any luck I'll have something worth posting soon.
 
I'm at the point where I need to prime

Are you going to use a zinc primer like Maytag did at the factory?

That would be a nice touch since you're going first class on this rebuild.
 
Minor progress.

I was able to get the primer surfacer applied to the base this afternoon and sanded smooth. It came out well, but I'll likely hit it with another coat of ordinary primer before painting it. I also used Evapo-Rust to remove any remaining rust from the underside of the top panel. Now I just need to touch up a few small spots to prevent a return.

 

Douglas - I looked for any source of zinc primer locally and found nothing, so I went ahead without it. Hopefully if I get really good coverage with the paint it'll be enough to prevent any issues going forward.

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Quick update.

Getting the cabinet ready for paint. Some corrosion had to be removed, then lots of little chips and scratches that needed filling, and the process of priming and sanding until they're all properly smoothed out is time consuming, but things are moving along. The initial progress may have given the impression that this would go faster. Sorry about that.

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Here we are at the end of September......

and I'm finally ready to paint. My original plan had been to paint outside, but the weather here in Pittsburgh hasn't been cooperating. It's either been raining and humid, hot and humid, or windy and humid. The humidity has finally dropped back to normal, but the wind continues to be a problem. I want this to come out well so I decided I'd have to paint in the hangar, which means I had to purchase this tent like temporary storage shed to control the over-spray (and keep my job). Anyways, after sanding and priming, sanding and priming, then sanding and priming some more, all the little chips and scratches on the cabinet, front panel, and control panel dog house have been filled and smoothed over. I expect to have the painting finished over the next couple of days.

[this post was last edited: 9/30/2021-12:45]

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With your extreme attention to detail, that machine will come out looking better than a factory paint job.

 

Are you going to paint the inner cabinet or leave it as is?
 
Hi Dan. The inside of the cabinet has been prepped for paint as well, so yes, it's getting painted. I figure an extra layer of protection against corrosion can't hurt, so why not. It'll make things brighter in there when the front panel comes off for maintenance as well. Honestly, I'm a little nervous. It's been a long time since I've used a spray gun, so hopefully the relearning curve won't be too steep. Keep your fingers crossed.
 
Just a quick update.

The cabinet, front panel, and control panel dog house have now been painted, but what a nightmare. Things began going wrong when I ran out of white base coat before the first coat of paint had even been fully applied. The guys at the paint store had figured one quart would do. I hadn't painted anything with a spray gun in twenty years at least, so I went with that. I ended rushing back to the store to buy two more quarts and used just about all of it. Also, I had assumed regular paint thinner would be suitable for cleaning the spray gun, but it turned out the paint requires lacquer thinner to clean up. Yikes. That would have been good to know before I started painting. Then while applying the second coat of base color, both a run and a sag formed on the right side of the cabinet. Fortunately lacquer dries rather quickly, so I was able to use 1000 grit wet sand paper to cut the ridges off both and smooth them out completely. Finally after a great deal of panic and frustration the clear coat went on without a hitch. The whole process lasted from about noon to eight thirty in the evening. There are some dust particles settled into the clear coat, but once completely dry they will polish out. Tomorrow morning the paint will have cured enough to handle, so I'll post some photos of the painted parts then. I could've taken pictures last night, but it was the end of a very long and frustrating day. I just plain forgot until I was already on the road home.
 
As promised

here are a couple of photos of the painted cabinet. It came out pretty well. Thankfully the only visible flaws are in the clear coat, so they will be sanded smooth with 1000 or 1500 grit wet sand paper and polished out, making them disappear completely. That's one of the things I really like about base coat clear coat systems. Mistakes are much easier to correct. Now I need to get the base plate painted.

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Thanks, Melvin!

I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out so far. With any luck I'll be able to complete the polishing without screwing it up. Now I have another problem that finally needs to be dealt with. I can't get the darn agitator to let go. It seems to be completely stuck. Dan tells me it's a rare one, so I'm trying to be extremely careful with it. I've looked for an Agi-Tamer, but those seem to have disappeared from the marketplace. I really need to get it out so I can go through the transmission, but until then I'm about as stuck as the agitator is.
 
To remove the agitator on my 1972 A606 16 years ago, I made a web of clothes line running up and down inside the middle of the agitator, laid the machine on it's side, attached the web to a nice big slide hammer, and banged away until it popped off.  Man, it was really on there, but it came off with no damage.

 

 
 
One last picture

I forgot to include the little doghouse in the photos. This had a large sag in the paint along to top near the front edge. I was able to cut the ridge off it by wet sanding and then polish it out. No trace is left.

 

Ken - Thanks for the tip on agitator removal. At this point any ideas are helpful.

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These early Powerfins used the older style metal drive block inside agitator that rusts overtime and binds itself to the agitator shaft if not removed frequently and lubed. They're an absolute bastard to get off, if it can be done at all. My early '67 806 with original 8 vane is giving me the same hell. I may end up drilling a small hole down the center of the of the agitator and try feeding some penetrating oil to the shaft, hoping for the best. I just don't feel comfortable with A: Drilling a hole and guessing where the drive block ends and the agitator shaft begins and B: Permanently sealing the hole in the agitator without water intrusion problem in the long-term, if not short-term future.
 
>> Then while applying the second coat of base color, both a run and a sag formed on the right side of the
>> cabinet. Fortunately lacquer dries rather quickly, so I was able to use 1000 grit wet sand paper to cut
>> the ridges off both and smooth them out completely.

For the future, there's a neat little tool called a "Run Razor" that the automotive painting supply places sell that could have helped here. It's a little plastic piece, which holds a razor blade at an angle. A screw can be turned to flex the center of the blade downward, very precisely, to just barely skim the surface of the paint. It works great to plane down runs without cutting below the surface or creating local depressions when sanding out high spots.
 
Stuck Maytag Agitator

Hi David, your paint job looks great, your restoration reminds me of some of the restored cars I have seen that are actually better than factory build quality when done .

 

If you end up breaking the agitator out I have an extra original one like your machine has that you can have since you are doing such a terrific restoration and trying to see it original.

 

John L.
 
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